Improvement in portable fences



UNITED STATES R. HAYNES, OF OBERLIN, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT INv PORTABLE FENCES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,108, dated April 7, 1863.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, B. HAYNES, of Oberlin, in the county of Lorain and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Portable Fences; and I do hereby declare v that the following` is a full and complete description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view, and Figs. 2 and 3 are sections.

Like letters refer to like parts in the several views.

My invention relates, rst, to such a construction of a fence that the panels are made in part by means of lath interlaced diagonally; second, in the mode of uniting the panels together, whereby the panels may be thrown into a zigzag position to insure firmness to the fence without the posts entering the ground, providing also for the opening of the fence at any desired point for the passage of a team in a manner similar t0 the opening of a gate.

In the several figures, A represents the posts. These consist of pieces of two-inch plank, about three and ahalt' or four feetlong, eight inches wide at the lower end, and four inches wide at the top end. These posts are intended to rest either directly upon the ground or upon a raised supportas a stone or block ot' woodto prevent their premature decay, which would be more rapid in case the posts rested directly upon the earth.

B B represent the rails. These are about one and a half inch thick and four inches wide. The lower one, B, is notched into the lower end of the post, as shown at C in Figs. 1 and 3. rlhe upper rail, B, is nailed to the top of the post, as shown at C', Fig. 2. At that end of the rails not joined to the post they are nailed to a short plank, D, whose length coincides with the distance the rails are apart upon the post. This plank D is two inches thick and four inches wide, or having the same width as the rails. Each end ot' each rail is bored with an inch-and-a-quarter hole, and the end of the rail rounded, as shown in the figure at E; but this rounding is not important. rlhe panels are completed by means of lath or strips of wood about two inches wide, half an inch thick, and four feet long. These strips (shown at F F) are interlaced diagonally, as shown in Fig. l, and the ends at the point of intersection are both secured by one nail to the rail B or B. Each slat interlaces at least two besides those they meet at the top and bottom, as seen in Fig. l. (These intersections are shown at G G in the same figure.) The panels are joined together by means oi the pins H H in the manner shown in Fig. l, and can be turned at any angle, as indicated in Fig. 2, thus making a zigzag or worm fence, having by this means a sufficient base to stand firmly.

This fence can be opened like a gate at any point by removing the pins H H and swinging the panel around, and it can be closed with equal ease.

In protecting hay or grain stacks, it can be thrown into a circle, nearly, by turning the angles all in one direction.

For the purpose of removing the fence from one place to another, the pins H H' are all withdrawn, and the panels, being light, can be readily loaded upon a wagon.

The process of putting the panels together has already been described.

What I claim as my improvement, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The hereindescribed construction of the panels of portable fences,in combination with the uniting the same by means of the pins H H', passing through holes in the rails B B', substantially as herein set forth.

R. HAYNES.

Witnesses:

W. H. BURRIDGE, HENRY VOTE. 

